[Jewelry making - Article 00521] - Re: [Orchid] Fragile gemstones

[Don Rogers]

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>     I discovered last year that the colors have lost a great deal of
>     the intensity they had when I acquired it. The specimen has had
>     limited exposure to direct light, so I surmise it was treated in
>     some way, and that treatment is not as permanent as I would have
>     liked. 

Hi Dave

    There are a couple thing at play here.  I run into jewelers who want
    to look at stones "under their own light".  You and I both know that
    the reason for this is that you know what your lighting highlights
    and you don't know what a show dealer, or another shops lights
    highlight.  This is probably not what you experienced though. 

    As I am writing this post, I am looking at a 32ct Russian Bi colored
    Topaz that I bought three years ago in Tucson.  I bought the rough,
    a nice pale blue/brown  bi colored piece.  I asked about color
    stability and was told "no problem".  The stone I am now looking at
    after cutting two years ago is a white topaz with just a shade of
    brown in one corner if you look closely.  Not the sharp color split
    and interplay I saw when the stone was first cut.  It has only seen
    a few hours on display, the rest of it's life was in a safe.  I was
    assured that my rough had not been treated.  Oh well 

    When I had my store active, I would keep opal under lights for at
    least a year before offering them for sale.  It never occurred to me
    that I should do the same with tourmaline or topaz.  I knew that
    Amethyst wouldn't stand the light, some times, and I knew that some
    of the brown topaz would fade with light.  Boy are there a lot of
    pitfalls for the jewelers.  Treatments, synthetics, and fillings to
    name a few.   Lack of knowledge on their part can cost them. 

    I was in a local jewelry store today, and in chatting with the
    owner, I told him that I had been cutting a lot of Demantoid in the
    last few months.  His response was "Demantoid, I don't think I have
    heard of it".  This guy has been in business for over 20 year at the
    same location.  He wouldn't know the difference between a
    refractometer and a polariscope, never mind what they had to do with
    the business.  No wonder that the scam artist flourish.  There is a
    steady stream of marks for them. 

    It sure makes it a problem for people like you and me who want to be
    honest with our customers, and who tend to believe that our
    suppliers are honest with us.  That one supplier gets through our
    defences and sticks us with a dud, and who eats it, US.  We would
    not knowingly pass it along to our customers.  When we find out that
    it is not what we thought, we eat the cost.  Our customers never
    take this into consideration when working with us.  They don't know
    and we don't tell them.  Where we might run into trouble is selling
    one of these duds to a customer, not knowing it. 

    A painful story before I log off.   My son got married about four
    years ago.  I sold him the engagement set.  I set the main stone. 
    After he got the set, he took it to his best man's father for an
    appraisal as I told him to.  The guy told him some story about
    setting damage and being a used stone but not to worry as many of
    the diamond were "used".  Then, just before the wedding, I had to
    replace the engagement band as the matching wedding band was no
    longer available.  I had a friend reset the main stone into the new
    band.  My Daughter-in-law proceeded a year later to smash the ring
    in a filing cabinet, and they took it to a local jeweler to have the
    head replaced.  This jeweler "mapped the stone" so my son could see
    that he was getting the same stone back.  At Christmas last year,
    they were at my house.  As always, I offer a cleaning and inspection
    on jewelry.  When I looked at the main stone, I was aghast.  It was
    not the stone I sold my son.  It was damaged, the girdle had been
    ground on something.  It was awful.   I pointed it out to my son and
    his comment was that the jeweler who had replaced the head had
    pointed these thing out to him and it was the same stone.  Now talk
    about being between a rock and a hard place.  One of a number of
    things could have happened.  My son's best man's father could have
    swapped stones.  My friend  who reset the stone could have swapped
    stones.  The local jeweler could have swapped stones. But the bottom
    line is that this is a very uncomfortable topic of discussion
    between me and my son now.  I know that the stone in my daughter in
    laws ring is not the one I sold them.  My son is sure it is but is
    happy with it.  I would like to catch the crook. 

    Don 
 

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